Online Learning And Competitiveness: Incorporating Teaching Strategies And Software That Encourage Ethical Behavior.

• Author: Casey, Kevin

INTRODUCTION

Isiaka and Egerue (2019) provide a good discussion on the importance of education to developing nations. They find a positive significant relationship between education spending and economic growth in Nigeria over the period 1981 through 2016. Other researchers (Nowak & Dahal, 2016) find similar results in Nepal. Overall, most studies support the link between education and economic development.

Sinha and Bagarukayo (2019) highlight that education is listed as the fourth United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goal and the emergence of digital technologies makes access to education far more accessible. Given the importance of education and the advances in online delivery systems it seems appropriate to discuss techniques faculty can use to encourage ethical behavior in the online environment.

The online learning environment poses new problems for teaching and ensuring grade integrity that did not exist prior to the availability of this technology. Students may use the veil of anonymity afforded them in the online classroom to engage in unethical behavior. Given the rapid growth of this delivery method it is useful to review some practices to encourage ethical behavior.

Growth in Online Distance Education

According to 2015 Online Report Card (ORC, 2015) conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group and co-sponsored by the Online Learning Consortium, the number of higher education students enrolled in at least one online distance education course in 2015 is up 3.9% over 2014. The 2015 increase in online enrollment continues a 13-year trend in increasing online distance education enrollment (ORC, 2015). The increase in 2015 brings the portion of students enrolled in at least one online distance education course to over 5.8 million students, or 28.4% of all higher education enrollment. As online enrollment continues to rise, so do the questions and concerns regarding academic integrity in the online classroom. The academic integrity concern about online distance education courses in higher education is evidenced by study findings that show while 71% of leaders in academic institutions believe that increased online enrollment is vital to their institutions future only 29% of faculty believe in the legitimacy of online course offerings (ORC, 2015).

Academic Dishonesty

Academic integrity is defined as a moral code that discourages or prohibits any activity perceived as unethical in an academic setting. This moral code should both value and encourage high academic standards, while suppressing such unethical behaviors as plagiarism, cheating on exams, and contract cheating. Common methods available for students to cheat in online distance education courses can range from methods available only through the online environment to those that are present for students in the face-to-face learning environment as well. Rigby et al. (2015) state that common academic dishonesty activities present in the online distance education courses are plagiarism, and the recent emergence of contract cheating. Current technologies make the search costs near zero and facilitate rapid "ordering, payment and delivery." Guyette et al. (2008) find many online students take advantage of other online resources during testing. This paper offers some options available to online instructors that help minimize these unethical behaviors.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Access to Resources

One opportunity for academic dishonesty involves the unauthorized use of textbook or internet resources during the completion of online quizzes and exams due to the high degree of autonomy and anonymity that students have while taking online distance education courses (Trenholm, 2007). This concern is in contrast to a traditional course because students in the face-to-face classroom typically have far fewer textbook and online resources available to them while taking a quiz or exam. Students taking an exam through an online learning management system could access numerous resources while testing. These resources range from a physical copy of the textbook to internet search engines or even a purchased copy of a publisher's test question bank.

A 2008 study found that online instructors are primarily concerned about students using an open book during an exam, utilizing online sources during the exam, and relying on print reference sources other than the main textbook (Guyette, King, & Piotrowski, 2008). Guyette et al. (2008) also note that the majority of instructors feel that these actions are somewhat or very inappropriate in the online classroom. Online distance education courses that do not implement appropriate test security measures could provide students with the opportunity to exploit a course exam in a way that is not available to them in the traditional face-to-face classroom. Fully understanding the scope of resources available to students enrolled in an online distance education course will help instructors find the most appropriate methods of test security.

Plagiarism

Another opportunity for academic dishonesty in an online distance education course is the act of passing off another's work as one's own, which is known as academic plagiarism. While the ubiquitous nature of digital media has blurred the line between what is morally right and wrong when it comes to content from the internet (Harmon, 2016), academic dishonesty in this form is not exclusive to online distance education. Although there is no current consensus to suggest that plagiarism is more prevalent in online distance education...